Men’s basketball: Adams brothers make game-winners a family affair

When St. Bonaventure sophomore guard Jaylen Adams hit the buzzer-beating three to defeat Saint Louis on Sunday afternoon, his brother Brendan was still in the first half of his high school matchup in Baltimore.

An hour later, however, Brendan would join his big bro in the game-winner department.

Brendan’s school, Calvert Hall, was on the road to face St. Frances Academy on St. France’s senior day. He had scored 24 points before his team’s final possession, but his Cardinals were down by two.

“Coach told us that somebody had to step up and make a play and I felt I was the one to do it,” Brendan told Derek Toney of Varsity Sports Network.

The 6-foot-3 guard took the inbound pass and dribbled quickly up the court. He received a screen from a teammate, drove by his defender at the left wing and made his way to the hoop. As he put up a driving layup, he was fouled and made the basket with 3.9 seconds left.

All that was left to do was convert the three-point play at the foul like, and Brendan, who wears number 10 as well, cashed in. St. Frances was unable to answer at the other end and the Cardinals won their 16th game of the year.

“I was happy for him… I got really excited,” Jaylen said. “It’s good to see my little brother having some success too.”

After Jaylen’s shot to beat the Billikens, the Bonaventure basketball Twitter account sent Sportscenter’s account the video in hopes of making the top 10 plays countdown that night (the play ranked ninth). After he saw Brendan’s shot, Jaylen tweeted the video on his account:

The ESPN Assignment desk moderators must have checked Jaylen’s account after seeing the Bonnies’ tweet, because they replied and asked if they could use the video of Brendan’s shot on air. Jaylen obliged, and the siblings were back-to-back in a segment on Sportscenter the next day.

Father Darryl and mother Yalonda were at Brendan’s game while watching the Bonnies’ game on their phones.

“Obviously they were excited,” Jaylen said. “They gave us reminders to keep working and hopefully in the future we can have more things like that.”

The Adams family, which also includes sister Anyah, is a close one. Brendan is four years younger than Jaylen, so the two never had the fiercest sibling rivalry on the basketball court, but they still have a clear bond.

“It wasn’t like a really crazy competition, but obviously your brother’s gonna compete over everything, even the little things,” Jaylen said. “That’s my little brother, man; he looks up to me. I try to be there as a role model for him, answer any questions he has and just kind of live life first for him so he has someone to look up to whenever he runs into trouble.”

When asked about his brother’s chances of becoming a Division I basketball player like him, older bro didn’t hesitate.